The ICMcompact is a compact, stand-alone instrument for evaluating the condition of medium and high voltage insulation. It is often used in quality assurance and quality control tests at manufacturing sites.

ICMcompact

ICMcompact's PC Software

The easy portability, simple operation, and flexibility of the Power Diagnostix
ICMcompact make it a good choice for routine PD testing in a variety of utility
and industrial applications.

ICMcompact

Stand-Alone Instrument

The Power Diagnostix ICMcompact provides a simple push-button interface and on-screen menus in an embedded LCD panel. The LCD display modes include a simple PD charge meter with adjustable “needle” sensitivity, monochrome phase-resolved PD patterns for characterization of defects, and a scope-like display showing phase summed charge pulses superimposed with the applied voltage wave. Although the ICMcompact is an autonomous unit, it can be connected to a computer installed with Power Diagnostix software to capture screenshots or to implement remote control of the unit.

Applications

Instantly displaying information in an intuitive interface, the ICMcompact is a good choice for applications such as quality control tests in manufacture of electrical products, and for quality assurance of industrial and utility equipment from capacitors and bushings to gas-insulated switch gear and others. A wide range of accessories adapts the ICMcompact to specific testing applications and noise conditions.

The ICMcompact equipped with an optional DSO board can be used to locate partial discharge defects in power cable. Using time domain reflectometry, in which the PD and its “echoes” travel the length of the cable under test, the ICMcompact provides the proportional distance of the PD fault along the cable.The ICMcompact offers convenient on-site testing of equipment such as cable accessories or sensors installed with gas insulated switch gear, for instance.Generally, this unit can be used with the full range of the ICMseries preamplifiers, covering the IEC60270 standard frequencies.

ICMcompact with PD Spectrum Analysis (SPEC Option)

Frequency spectrum display

Observing the frequency spectrum of a harshly disturbed PD signal allows selecting frequency bands with less disturbances. Using this selected frequency for a PD acquisition gives a largely improved signal-to-noise ratio resulting in a clear pattern acquisition. The combination of spectrum analyzer and PD detector within one instrument opens a broad field of new possibilities when analyzing isolation defects even with large noise.

The ICMcompact can be equipped with one, three or eleven channels. A multiplexer allows to directly select the input signal.

The SPEC mode shows the frequency spectrum of the input signal with a selectable span of up to 10 MHz. Three spectrum traces of the current input channel can be stored, compared and analyzed. A variable cursor serves to set the center frequency for the PD pattern acquisition.

Further Options

To adapt the basic ICMcompact unit to suit special measurement requirements, it can be equipped with various options:

Voltage measurement. Adds the HVM oscilloscopic display showing the wave form of the high voltage and calculates Û, Û/√2, Urms, etc.

Standard Display Modes

In standard configuration the ICMcompact comes with five main display modes.

To get a phase resolved pattern a hold function is available.

The scope display shows the maximum peak values of discharges vs. phase. The refresh rate is about 5 pictures per second which gives a good view of increasing or decreasing PD activity.

The PD pulses can also be put on top of the drawn sine wave as shown beneath.

An option allows displaying a Lissajou visualization.

Each PD pulse is plotted related to its amplitude and phase position. To visualize the PD activity like older analog meters the next display can be chosen. Three different meter modes like e. g. IEC60270 mode are available.

Optional Display Modes

DSO Board ExtensionThis option allows sampling PD pulses and its reflections running over HV cables for cable fault location. The sample rate of this DSO board is 100MSamples and gives a resolution of 10 ns. An additional display with cursor settings and zoom functions helps to localize faults directly on-site. Advanced software gives more possibilities for evaluation and precise fault location using a PC or laptop.

Voltage MeasurementThis enhanced board extension makes the acquisition of the voltage shape available. A 12 bit A/D converter samples about 200 values per cycle with polarity. An additional display shows this voltage shape and the calculated values for rms and peak. To record values of partial discharge and voltage in parallel the ICMcompact software can be used.